Items Of Personal History Rest In Vietnam Memorial

November 12, 1985|By Bill Bond of The Sentinel Staff

TALLAHASSEE — When Aaron Connor began work on the Florida Vietnam Veterans Memorial six months ago, the 43-year-old building supervisor viewed it as just another job. As the $475,000 project progressed, and as veterans or family members began to visit the partially completed memorial, his attitude changed.

''One morning I came to work and found five medals at the site,'' he said beside the memorial early Monday morning. ''Another time two mothers whose sons died in the war stopped and asked if they could just touch the wall, just feel it.''

For Connor, the on-site project supervisor Carlile Construction Company of Tallahassee, it started out as a regular job. He is not a veteran, but as the days passed Conner said he started feeling for the Vietnam veterans.

''They'd come and sometimes stand here and cry,'' he said. ''Others would bring their war mementos and ask me to place the items in the concrete.

''There are a soldier's combat boots in there, fatigue jackets, a time capsule, a bunch of medals and a desk name piece with the inscription, 'To truly live, one must always die,' in the concrete.''

Connor said he had no authority to put the mementos into the memorial but added, ''How could I say no?''

A letter in the time capsule reads: ''Whoever finds this letter, may they find the world at peace.''

The capsule, which also contains a tiny American flag and a map of Vietnam, was placed in one of the hollow spaces in one of the two granite columns, Connor said.

Some interesting notes about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial:

-- Acid was used to etch servicemen's names on Minnesota granite.

-- A tiny light or dark dot is beside each name, designating whether each is confirmed dead or among the 81 Florida soldiers still unaccounted for.